Top-Sellers Banquet

Lyrics for Top-Sellers Banquet

On the ridge there's a camera And a DP framing the shot of a hillside at twilight And a country club on top in the foreground There's a paved road lit by the black cars splitting the night Tunneled headlights burned in the darkness Move the camera to the banquet hall Where they all arrive in turn Give their coats to a man at the door They come in for a dinner planned In their honor all here top-sellers for the year on the list On the far side by a glass wall at a table the executives sit They watch people coming in on a pilgrimage There's a slow pan pull the camera back (let it linger hanging over the room) (let the viewer feel the heat of the light on the screen) (coming through) And they're all in awe of it Here standing with the pyramid tip Above shift the focus on each entering guest Like some television wedding event They come in to the hall and almost kneel on the ground In suits and jewels and diamond ball gowns Praise Jesus for the gospel of more For the kingdom of eternal reward and the camera tilts An announcement made a welcome Thanks your seats please and we'll start It's good to see or to meet you To celebrate the year that we've had They'll serve dinner soon enjoy your drinks The ensemble starts to play Move the camera now from the hallway out Shoot the dancers from in back of the line One by one going into the room Keep the camera close follow behind Floating weightless between tables We change focus crossing paths All their guests hold their phones out No one notices the flash all around Pass through glass and showed the hillside glowing white Right before there was sound That's only relatively good, but one thing is sure We must die If you will just turn to your last page of the Banner this week, you will find a series Of articles by Arnold Brink on that subject You must die I must die In view of that, where will you place your energy? Where will you set your ambitions? Where will be your goal? How will your aim be determined? What will be your seeking? And a hush fell all around In the room gone pitch black But for the glow of their phones In their hands and they wondered had the power gone out Why they couldn't hear anything In the dark that surrounded them Not a sound made and nothing came out When they opened up their mouths You could sense how they felt In the expressions revealed by the screens It was a dancer they discovered first Between tables in the hall near the center Frozen in her pose mid-jump Suspended in the air In the corner all the players in their chairs with their bows mid-stroke And the servers too Scattered like a statuary in a garden or a tomb Motionless each of them except for the guests And the executives still seated at their table At the front end of the room Then from the ceiling came a tunnel of light Settled downward on the dancer in the air Still floating with her legs outstretched in a leap above them They saw her fingers moving first Then her eyes blinking softly in the brightness And the guests stood dumbstruck watching in awe Her return as if unthawing back to life Floated slowly going weightlessly up Through the chandeliers above Through the roofbeams then out Disappearing through the ceiling in the night And another one fell downward on a dancer by the hall door And another one fell downward on a cellist in his chair And another on a server and another on a valet On another dancer and another And they all begin rising skyward And the camera starts to rise skyward with them Where its lens fixed downward at the room Shows guests in horror pull out their hair And the head table in the center carries on Eating and drinking and talking as if entirely unfazed And the camera rises through the ceiling And the shot widens as it climbs And we see in all directions long beams everywhere to the ground Where bodies inside smile at music only they can hear At a thousand voices singing in their ears At the warmth of the light on their skin And on the ground people weep gnash their teeth Burn their belongings And we see everything around rising upward Until the camera goes grey in the clouds Until the camera goes grey in the clouds Until the camera goes black until the film cuts until it Ends without credits for there's nobody left to see All god knows that as we work the work of god the work of faith as we seek the kingdom And his righteousness we are also going to be faithful in our daily labors Us we're going to use our time we're going to budget our money we're going to be careful in Spending we're going to be wise in investing and he will regulate these things for the beginning Of wisdom is the fear of the lord amen our god we thank thee for all the mercies bestowed upon us For thy word and thy spirit for thy power of grace and for thy love as it speaks to us May we never cease seeking thy kingdom seeking thy righteousness May we wait on thee day by day to receive at thy hand food and drink and clothing and Shelter and all things In Jesus name amen